As glaciers melt and the world's oceans rise, the Maldives will sink below sea leve. In response to this one team has designed a floating ecopolis to provide a place for the displaced country. The Floating States of Maldives is a series of floating islands that are proposed to supplement land that is lost. The tower island would rise 1000 meters tall with housing, schools, commercial and office space, while the keel will dive 1000 meters into the water to create an underwater skyscraper as well.

One thing that strikes me about almost all of these buildings is the manner in which they the architecture and style of the surrounding buildings. There are exceptions, namely the Mexico City “earth scraper” and the Maldives floating island, but everything else on that list is built in the style of self-centric architecture, where the building makes no effort to meld it’s self into the local environment or atmosphere. This is one habit in the avant-garde of architecture that needs to change; the perception that what came before is irrelevant and all that matters is the present. Respect needs to be paid to the history and character of the environment in which you are placing a building, much the same as respect should be paid to the local climate and the needs of the buildings users.